Magazine spooling mechanism



July 18, 1933. c. G. OFFEN 1,918,285

MAGAZINE SPOOLING MECHANISM Fi'led Jan. 8, 1951 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 18, 1933. c. G. OFFEN MAGAZINE SPOOLING MECHANISM Filed Jan. 8, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 yu I J7.

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p the fresh spool.

Patented July 18, 1933 UNITED STATES? PATENTOFFICE CLIFFORD G. OFFEN, OF PORTLAND, MAINE, ASSIGNOR TO BROWN COMPANY, OF BERLIN NEW HAMIPSIEIRE, A CORPORATION OF MAINE MAGAZINE SPOOLING MECHANISM Application filed January 8, 1931. Serial No. 507,357.

7 can operateon relatively weak strands such,

for example, as rovings of damp wood pulp fiber. It is a further object of the invention to provide mechanism by which, upon the completion of the winding of a cheese therei on, anew cheese may quickly be started without interrupting the continuity of feed of the oncoming roving. To this end I provide a spool magazine by which a fresh spool may quickly be moved in yarn receiving position i as a filled spool is moved out of such position.

For the winding of weak strands such as wet rovings of wood pulp fiber, I may provide a conveyor belt to receive one or more rovings and to carry these rovings to spools which rest on the belt in line with the rovings carried thereby. As the wet rovings show a preferential adherence to certain kinds of surfaces, I preferably provide spools and a conveyor with surfaces such that wet rovings will adhere more strongly to the spools than to the belt. This facilitates the starting of a cheese on a fresh spool as the broken end of the roving tends to cling to For a more complete understanding of the invention reference may be had to the disclosure thereof in the description which follows, and on the drawings, of which,

Figure 1 is a side elevation of an embodiment of the invent-ion.

FigureQ-is a section on the line 22 of Figure 1.

Figure?) is a fragmentary elevation of a portion 'ofFigure 1 showing the opposite side of the mechanism.

Figure 4; is a section on the line l-4 of Figure 3.

Figure 5 is a plan view, partly in section on the line 55 of Figure 4, showing adetail of the mechanism.

Figure 6 is a section on the line 66 of Figure 4.

Figure 7 is a perspective view of a portio of the mechanism shown in Figure 1.

Figure 8 is an end elevation of a pair of spool supporting arms showing a spool with a yarn body thereon held by the arms.

Referring to the drawings in detail, the

:mechanism may comprise a base or floor plate 10 from'which rises a pair of standards 11 supporting a shaft 12 on which is fixed a horizontal roll 13 and-a belt pulley 14- by which the mechanism may be operated through a belt (not shown) extending to a prime mover or other source of power. At the opposite end of the base 10 rockable frame 15 may be mounted, this frame includ- 1ng a pair of uprights 16 swivally mounted at their lower ends as at 17 and carrying a;

shaft 18 at their upper ends. A rod 19 may extend from the frame 15 to one of the uprights 11, this'rod being adjustable to hold the frame 15 in an adjusted angular position relatively to the base 10. Mounted on the shaft 18 is a horizontal roll 20. An endless conveyor belt21 is passed around the rolls 13 and 20, the upper stretch of this belt be ing adapted to receive and convey one or more strands which are to be wound up into yarn bodies. The tension of the belt 21 may be readily regulated by adjustment of the bar 19. The standards 11 are provided with extensions 25 projecting upwardly above the roll 13. These extensions carry a fixed horizontal shaft 26 between them, suitably spaced above the roll 13. j

Loosely mounted on the shaft 26 are one or more spool magazines which, as shown, may be in the form of a cross frame 27 having a hub portion 28 from which a pair of arms 29 extend radially, each pair of arms 29 having radial slots 31 in their mutually opposed faces to receive the trunnions 32 of a cylindrical. spool 33. The arms 29 are slightly resilient and are thus capable of being sprung apart sufliciently to permit the insertion of the trunnions 32 of a spool in the slots 31. To facilitate the insertion of a spool, the ends of the arms may be notched, as at 34, the bottom notches being slotted so that pressure of the trunnions thereon will force the arms 29 away from each other sufficiently to permit the trunnions to drop into the slots 31. The spool, when properly installed, will'be rotatable in the slots 31 and will be movably radi ally. As shown in Figure 1, the spool magazines 27 are provided with four pairs of arms 29, but it is obvious that a greater or lesser number of arms may be employed.

The spool magazines 27 are constructed and arranged with respect to the belt as to cause one of thespools thereon to press toward contact with the belt. In the embodiment of the invention illustrated on the drawings the spool nearest the belt is pressed by its own weight toward the belt. The position of the shaft 26 above the belt 21, and the length of the arms 29 and the slots 31 therein, are such as to permit a spool 33 mounted in the downwardly extending arms of a frame 27 to rest on the belt 21 at the .uppermost portion of the roll 13. In order to hold the frame 27 releasably in such a position and in other positions in which the other three pairs of arms may successively extend vertically downward, I may provide a number of rounded pins 40 projecting laterally from the frame 27, as shown especially in Figure 7, to extend into perforations or equivalent recesses 41 in the plate 42 which may be perforated to receive the shaft 26 and may beheld thereon againstrotation as by a suitable key 43 (Fig. 2). The recesses 41 and the pins 40 are all preferably spaced at equal radial distances from the axis of the shaft 26, and are angularly spaced about this axis by right angles, so that the pins 40 may enter the recesses 41 in any one of four positions of the frame 27 relative to the plate 42. In order to press the pins 40 resiliently into the recesses 41, I may mount on the shaft 26 a pair of collars 50 and 51 which are fixed thereon as'by set screws 52 and Between these collars I may assemble on the shaft 26 a plate 42 to rest against the collar 50and a spring 54 to be pressed against the collar 51. Between the plate 42 and the spring 54 is the spool frame 27. I may also mount in a similar manner a plurality of spool frames 27, as shown in Figure 2. In such case, a plurality of plates 42 are provided for alternate mounting on the shaft 26 with the spool frames 27, each plate 42 being separately keyed to the shaft 26 as by a key 43. Thus the spring 54 acts to press the pins 40 of each spool frame into the recesses 41 of the adjacent plate. This structure permits the several spool frames 27 to be idependently rotated about the shaft 26.

A traversing mechanism is provided to guide the yarns approaching the spools on the belt 21 so as to build up regular' yarn bodies on the spools. This mechanism may comprise a guide bar having suitable notches 61 through which the several yarns on the 60 belt may pass. The guide bar 60 is adapted to rest on the surface of the belt and to push theyarns laterally back and forth as they travel through the notches 61. The traversing motion of the guide 60 may be supplied by any suitable mechanism such as that illustrated in Figure 5. As therein shown the end of the bar has a transverse member 62 slotted as 63 to receive a pin 64 adjustably mounted on a rotatable disk 65. The disk 65 is mounted on a vertical shaft 66 connected as by miter gears 67 to the shaft 12. The extent of the traversing motion of the guide 60 may be regulated by adjusting the pin 64 toward or from the center of the disk 65.

The apparatus thus described canbc em-' ployed in spooling yarns of any description. It is particularly adapted for yarns of relatively small strength, such, for example, as rovings of wet wood pulp. Such yarns or rovings may be received on the belt 21 which is preferably driven at thesame linear speed as that at which the yarns are supplied thereto. The yarns are carried along on the upper stretch of the belt 21 toward the roll 13. At this point the yarns, after having passed through the notches 61 and the guide 60, come between the roll 13 and the lower spools 33 which are resting thereon by their own weight and the weight of any body of accumulated yarn which may be wound thereon. The motion of the belt 21 thus drives the spools 33 which are resting thereon and the yarns are wound ontliese spools, practically no tension being placed thereon. When the yarn bodies or cheeses have been wound to the desired size, the operator can rotate the frames 27 through an angle of ninety degrees so as to remove the fully wound yarn bodies from contact with the belt 21 and simultaneously to bring the next successive set of spools 33 into contact with the belt 21. It is desirable for continuity of operation that the yarn or rovings have a preferential attraction for.

the surface of the spools in comparison with the surface of the belt 21. To this end the materials of which the spools and belt are made are selected accordingly. In general, wet pulp yarns will cling to the smoother of two surfaces presented thereto, in preference to the rougher surface. For example, the belt may be of canvas, rubber, leather, etc. The spools are preferably of aluminum or surfaced vwith aluminum, although there are other surfaces which can be used. When the frames 27 are swung to bring a fresh set of spools into contact with the belt 21, the rovings at once start winding up on the fresh spools the rovings being usually broken by this fresh winding action.' When the spool frames 27 have been moved to the position shown in Figure 1, the arms holding the spool with the thread body wound thereon may be sprung apart sufiiciently to release the spool for removal from the arms, and a fresh spool may be inserted between them.

I claim:

'1. Apparatus of the class described comprising a conveyor belt, a shaft spaced above said belt and extending thereacross, a frame carried by said shaft and revoluble about the axis thereof, said frame having pairs of radially extending arms with radial grooves therein, a cylindrical spool mounted between each pair of arms, said spools each having a pair of trunnions to ride in said grooves, means releasably holding said frame in positions wherein the lowermost spool carried thereby may rest on said belt, and a traversing guide adjacent to said frame.

2. A magazine spooling mechanism, comprising a horizontal shaft, a frame revoluble about the axis of said shaft, a plurality of spools having trunnions carried by said frame, and means for releasably holding said frame with any selected spool thereon in strand-receiving position, said frame having a pair of radially extending arms for each spool carried thereby, each sald pair of arms each pair of arms, said spools each having a pair of trunnions to ride in said grooves, and means for releasably holding said frame in positions wherein the lowermost spool carried thereby may rest on said belt.

GLIFFORD G. OFFEN. 

